Gary Patterson goes for three

Gary Patterson is as hands-on as any head coach I've been around in college football. Aside from all his typical head-coaching duties, Patterson also calls the TCU defense, a unit that has proven to be the best in the country over the past few years. Last year, Patterson's D was No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (12 ppg), fifth in run defense and first in pass efficiency defense.

In past entires for the Stats That Matter series, I've reached out to coordinators or position coaches. But I wanted to try and examine the Horned Frogs' system, so I caught up with Patterson over the weekend.

Patterson told me he focuses on a few different stat barometers, most notably run defense and touchdowns allowed per game. But the statistic that really caught his eye in 2010 was percentage of three-and-outs. "For us, last year, that was really big," he said. "We led the nation in forcing three-and-outs with an average of six per game (78-of-157 offensive series), and averaged a three-and-out 50 percent of the time."

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